This video begins with an interrogation of three alleged Gulf Cartel operatives. They are subsequently beheaded as a “Christmas gift” from the Zetas to the Gulf Cartel.

The interrogator’s voice has been edited out of the audio, with text appearing instead. This effort to protect the interrogator’s identity resembles that of a two-part video reviewed earlier on El Blog de Propaganda, “Interrogando A Panochones Del Golfo”.[2] The video pans between three alleged Gulf Cartel operatives who are seated with their hands secured behind them, except for one whose hands are cuffed in front. A cinder-block wall is behind them. One of them has been beaten severely in the face. Each of the prisoners is wearing identical t-shirts that are black with large white letters: “C.D.G. Carteles Unidos”.[3] Thus they are portrayed as simultaneously symbolizing their own organization, the Gulf Cartel, as well the Zetas’ enemies collectively. This detail parallels the way in which Zeta operatives were forced to wear shirts with the letter Z in a video previously reviewed on El Blog de Propaganda, “The Sad Reality of the Zetas”.[4] Unlike in that video, which did not display violence or executions of the captive Zeta operatives, the captive Gulf Cartel operatives in this video are interrogated, and additionally, gagged and beheaded while fully aware.

This video relies primarily upon the Testimony technique to suggest that the Gulf Cartel and other enemies have been the true perpetrators of grenade attacks within Zeta territory. This claim, and “testimony” in its favor from the mouths of Gulf operative prisoners, appeared to be the focus. By comparison, edited portions of the gruesome executions appeared only afterwards, occupying approximately 30 seconds of the video’s almost 11 minute length. Despite the implicit violence that can be inferred in the aforementioned videos (i.e., an operative interrogated on such a video can be presumed executed and probably tortured), to conclude with images of explicit violence upon Gulf Cartel operatives represents an intensification of the oneupsmanship previously evidenced in the interrogation-execution videos, “Interrogando A Panochones Del Golfo”, in which Gulf operatives were executed by gunfire on video.

This video represents a pivotal point in the propaganda volley between the Zetas and Gulf Cartel, whose subsequent videos with each other’s operatives will become increasingly violence and gore-oriented, and less oriented toward establishing guilt of the operatives for specific events or confessions of information that could be actionable against their own organizations.